Commercial guide
Commercial General Liability Limits for California Businesses
Understand per-event and total policy limits, protection for completed work, and why contracts need more than a certificate.
Educational examples updated . This update does not represent a new staff or legal review.
What to know first
- GL addresses covered third-party injury, property damage, and certain personal or advertising injury.
- Contracts may require specific limits and additional-insured wording.
- Professional, auto, employee injury, and cyber risks generally need separate coverage.
What to compare in your policy
Compare the per-occurrence limit, applicable aggregate, exclusions, and contract endorsements together. A certificate listing a limit does not expand the underlying policy.
These are educational benchmarks, not a recommendation for every applicant.Commercial general liability is foundational but not all-inclusive. It commonly addresses covered third-party bodily injury, property damage, and certain personal or advertising injury claims.
The occurrence limit and general aggregate work differently. Products-completed operations, damage to rented premises, medical payments, deductibles, and exclusions should be reviewed with contracts and operations.
Describe all work accurately, including subcontracting, height, excavation, hot work, products, geographic territory, and additional-insured requirements. Undisclosed operations can create underwriting and claim problems.
What does $1 million / $2 million mean?
Commercial general liability (GL) addresses certain claims by others for injury, property damage, and defined personal or advertising injury, such as certain defamation allegations. An occurrence limit caps payment for a covered event. An aggregate caps specified covered payments during the applicable period, usually the policy term; products-completed operations commonly has a separate aggregate.
Illustrative example: a policy has a $1 million occurrence limit and a $2 million general aggregate. After $1.5 million of payments subject to that aggregate, $500,000 remains for it. The next claim does not automatically have a fresh $1 million available. This example assumes no separate aggregate applies and ignores other settlement provisions.
Contracts need more than a certificate
An additional insured is another person or organization granted specified protection by the policy, often through an endorsement. A certificate is evidence of coverage, not the endorsement itself. Completed operations concerns liability arising from finished work or products; it does not promise to replace defective work as a warranty. Send us the actual contract and a description of the work so we can compare required wording, covered operations, and exclusions before you start.